The "What the HECK Is A 2016 Sonic" Prophecy Thread (two topics from the pre-server wipe in one!)

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

I just wish they would put sonic down for good. They better make the game good,or the series will be dead...?

I actually wouldnt mind Sonic taking a short break actually. 

[-Ace-]

I actually wouldnt mind Sonic taking a short break actually. 

Technically Modern Sonic game wise has been on a brief hiatus since 2013 (unless you count Runners) and here we are approaching 2016, it's a short break but it's a break.

Edited December 29, 2015 by -Ace-

[Alienrun]

Personally, I wish Sega would do with classic Sonic as they did with Boom Sonic: create a "new" branch of the franchise focusing on a different style. In this case, classic Sonic gameplay. I mean, why not? Sort of a "New Super Mario Bros."-esque thing.

And most definitely not a Sonic 4-esque thing.

Something I don't get, is that I feel SOOO many people have forgotten what made Classic Sonic good in the first place, even the hardcore fans. I would know as I used to be a classic fanboy myself, but didn't really understand what made the games stand out at the time and all that crap regarding the best way they "should" be designed. Like here's the thing. NSMB is pretty crap compared to the old "original" mario games, but they still sold well...for some reason? I feel it will be the same with sonic, you would basically make a "Sonic the hedgehog Classic" with all the basics that people nowadays remember, it gets praise like colors...and then the hype dies and people start their normal wining. Except this is sonic were talking about, so the wining is more like bitching. And if the game actually has some merit, a few people will start defending it...and if its not revolutionary in any way, then it will fade into obscurity, just like the advance games.

It just feels that even THOSE games (advance) don't target that audience. Sonic isn't sonic to those people. To this day I hear people say "Where is my 2D sonic?" when we clearly already have a bunch of 2D sonics. And now its come to the point where it feels too outdated that people are better off playing mods/hacks/fangames like Erazor/Boom Genesis/or Freedom Planet etc. But that is some people I suppose, because the audience is smaller than usual compared to Mario, it needs to stand out more on its own merits, people are not as easily convinced of a quality product when they see Sonic compared to Mario.

And this is where I come in and say I don't really give a damn about all of this, I got my Freedom Planet and I'm happy with it. I never asked for it, but that's all I need and I'm thankful for it!

[Shadowlax]

If I were a betting man, I would wager that there's going to be one game per "series". Boom Sonic is getting Fire and Ice, Classic Sonic is probably getting a Genesis-inspired 2D game (be it 16 bit or not), and Modern Sonic is getting... who knows. Neither a Boost game nor a Parkour game, at least.

damn boom sonic keep getting raw deals.

[Ferno]

They should just take SA1's code and fix it up/approximate it. It would skip all of the nitpicking that will happen as a result of them trying to recapture the style of games that has been overanalyzed to death, it would use a decent 3D approximation of classic physics, it would actually be in 3D, and it would make me happiest. That latter point is especially important. xP

Knowing them, I wouldn't be surprised if they somehow lost the code years ago just like they apparently lost the source code for the classic games (from what I remember reading somewhere anyway,) which is probably why those games need to be emulated/remade from scratch every time they're re-released other than the early PC and Jam ports.

Would be neat if they still had the code and did do that though, if anything I'd like to see them do something like the early Windy Valley prototype but more extensive.

 

 

[Badnik Mechanic]

2016... it'll be a classic!

https://twitter.com/sonic20th/status/681773864544673792

[Zavok the SpinningSilver]

2016... it'll be a classic!

https://twitter.com/sonic20th/status/681773864544673792

And the quarter logo comes forth. 

I know that Green Hill render is probably reused from Generations, but it's brimming with quality here. 

[Milo]

Something I don't get, is that I feel SOOO many people have forgotten what made Classic Sonic good in the first place, even the hardcore fans. I would know as I used to be a classic fanboy myself, but didn't really understand what made the games stand out at the time and all that crap regarding the best way they "should" be designed. Like here's the thing. NSMB is pretty crap compared to the old "original" mario games, but they still sold well...for some reason? I feel it will be the same with sonic, you would basically make a "Sonic the hedgehog Classic" with all the basics that people nowadays remember, it gets praise like colors...and then the hype dies and people start their normal wining. Except this is sonic were talking about, so the wining is more like bitching. And if the game actually has some merit, a few people will start defending it...and if its not revolutionary in any way, then it will fade into obscurity, just like the advance games.

It just feels that even THOSE games (advance) don't target that audience. Sonic isn't sonic to those people. To this day I hear people say "Where is my 2D sonic?" when we clearly already have a bunch of 2D sonics. And now its come to the point where it feels too outdated that people are better off playing mods/hacks/fangames like Erazor/Boom Genesis/or Freedom Planet etc. But that is some people I suppose, because the audience is smaller than usual compared to Mario, it needs to stand out more on its own merits, people are not as easily convinced of a quality product when they see Sonic compared to Mario.

And this is where I come in and say I don't really give a damn about all of this, I got my Freedom Planet and I'm happy with it. I never asked for it, but that's all I need and I'm thankful for it!

I think a lot of this is really just you genuinely or deliberately not seeing a fair amount of things other people see.

General consensus is that games like Sonic 4 missed the point of being a sequel Genesis games and Generations, while better, is still lacking. If people had completely forgotten about what made Genesis Sonic great, you wouldn't be getting commentary against those games. Likewise, most would say the NSMB series isn't crap (inferior to the original series is what I read at worst) and say it's success can largely be attributed because of how faithful it is to the old games. And I don't see any requests for 2D Sonic, if anything I've heard people complain that there's too much 2D gameplay in recent titles.

And if you don't really give a damn about all of this...why are you here?

[Alienrun]

I think a lot of this is really just you genuinely or deliberately not seeing a fair amount of things other people see.

General consensus is that games like Sonic 4 missed the point of being a sequel Genesis games and Generations, while better, is still lacking. If people had completely forgotten about what made Genesis Sonic great, you wouldn't be getting commentary against those games. Likewise, most would say the NSMB series isn't crap (inferior to the original series is what I read at worst) and say it's success can largely be attributed because of how faithful it is to the old games. And I don't see any requests for 2D Sonic, if anything I've heard people complain that there's too much 2D gameplay in recent titles.

And if you don't really give a damn about all of this...why are you here?

I exagerated on the mario thing in order to drive the point home, also remember mario has that extra consistency in his favor. Re-read what I said about what would happen if Sega made a "Sonic the hedgehog classic" its true in every regard. That main point I was trying to make, which wasn't clear the first time, was that its harder to make a "bare bones" sonic game than it is to make a "bare bones" mario game, (yet that seems to be what everyone wants). Since the enphasis on its design is on speed, you can't design a game series like that for too long, or else it gets stale! Hence why the classic sonic series was released in the course of 3 years! Say what you want about the boost era, but that was only popular in the scope of what it was, nothing more. People wanted another boost game, but lets face it, people would find a way to complain afterwards saying its too speed focused and stale!

I don't see why this is hard to understand, and more importantly, this is very VERY outdated topic to discuss, of course people are going to talk about it anyways even if "they don't give a damn!"

[Sonikko]

I exagerated on the mario thing in order to drive the point home, also remember mario has that extra consistency in his favor. Re-read what I said about what would happen if Sega made a "Sonic the hedgehog classic" its true in every regard.

A game that looked like the classics but played nothing like them already came out, it was Sonic 4. It's similar to what NSMB is to the Mario series. The point here is that when you take the pinball physics away from a 2D Sonic you are left with a generic slope-y platformer in hand, it feels totally wrong. Super Mario is basically jumpman, it's impossible to go totally wrong with that. People want a good game with personality, at least that's what I'd like.

Edited December 29, 2015 by Sonikko

[Milo]

I exagerated on the mario thing in order to drive the point home, also remember mario has that extra consistency in his favor. Re-read what I said about what would happen if Sega made a "Sonic the hedgehog classic" its true in every regard. That main point I was trying to make, which wasn't clear the first time, was that its harder to make a "bare bones" sonic game than it is to make a "bare bones" mario game, (yet that seems to be what everyone wants).

It really isn't. Look at the tons of classic Sonic fangames that exist, even factoring Sturgeon's Law here. With the shining example being one fan in his spare time recreating Sonic CD by himself on a completely custom engine he made himself for the iPhone. With two sets of physics, widescreen support, and playable Tails to boot.

It's not so much making a "barebones" Sonic (by which I assume you're referring to Genesis Sonic) is difficult than it is the people in charge of designing the games simply aren't interested in doing a proper job.

Since the enphasis on its design is on speed, you can't design a game series like that for too long, or else it gets stale! Hence why the classic sonic series was released in the course of 3 years! Say what you want about the boost era, but that was only popular in the scope of what it was, nothing more. People wanted another boost game, but lets face it, people would find a way to complain afterwards saying its too speed focused and stale!

The fear of the formula getting stale isn't why the classic Sonic series was short lived / why Sonic Team decided to reinvent the series with the Dreamcast era. It's worth noting that both Sonic Team and STI tried to continue the classic Sonic era with a 3D game but neither materialized for different reasons (Sonic Team because the Saturn was dead in the water and Iizuka/Naka decided to take the series in a different direction for the Dreamcast; and STI because their project spiraled out of control to the point of being canned for a variety of reasons).

I'm also going to disagree you can't design a game series that emphasizes speed like Sonic does on a long-term basis without making it stale. I'd argue Sonic is a case where the people in charge of it simply haven't done it properly. I'd argue most people who do like the boost formula don't care about the complaints either way and would just be happy if they still continued to get games in that formula. Alternatively, they do agree with the complaints but will also point out they can still make those type of games while making changes to it specifically so that it doesn't get stale. Same case concerning people who like the classic games and even the Adventure games as well.

I don't see why this is hard to understand, and more importantly, this is very VERY outdated topic to discuss, of course people are going to talk about it anyways even if "they don't give a damn!"

No, the point I was questioning you about was that why would you come in this thread to talk about this "outdated" topic, only to then declare you never cared about it anyway. What's the purpose?

Edited December 29, 2015 by Gabe

[Shiny Gems]

If I were a betting man, I would wager that there's going to be one game per "series". Boom Sonic is getting Fire and Ice, Classic Sonic is probably getting a Genesis-inspired 2D game (be it 16 bit or not), and Modern Sonic is getting... who knows. Neither a Boost game nor a Parkour game, at least.

A bit late, but I want to comment on this. On the part on not getting a Boost or Parkour game, I just want to say that in another article, this one...

http://www.sonicstadium.org/2015/10/sega-hints-at-heyday-inspired-sonic-future/

They say they are going to make Sonic games play like how they did in the heyday. With that said, I have been thinking: if we are getting another Generations like game in 2016 as the anniversary game, do you all think that it would be possible that modern Sonic's gameplay could play like the classics, or close to it at least all in 3D, rather than being boost or parkour? I know it may be obvious, but I just want to hear some thoughts.

Edited December 30, 2015 by Flamerstreak

[Marioandsonic123]

On 12/29/2015 at 9:14 AM, Hogfather said:

2016... it'll be a classic!

https://twitter.com/sonic20th/status/681773864544673792

God damnit sega,another "return to roots" game?